Archive

The Good Book

Posted 5:01pm Sunday 30th September 2012 by Anonymous

There are many things in the world that simultaneously confuse and disgust me. Gherkins, overheard conversations between pairs of girls in the Link, the very existence of Brimstone — all disturbing, but none quite so much as the great unbelievable fact of the modern era: that the presumably-atheist Read more...

Hernandez Wins

Posted 5:01pm Sunday 30th September 2012 by Callum Fredric

Francisco Hernandez has been elected as OUSA President for 2013 after a hard-fought campaign. Hernandez received 1163 of the 3620 votes cast, with his nearest rival Ryan Edgar receiving 965 votes, closely followed by Zac Gawn with 842 votes. The election results were announced on Thursday Read more...

XX vs XY

Posted 4:25pm Sunday 23rd September 2012 by Lauren Wootton

“Here’s the difference between boys and girls: boys fuck things up, girls are fucked up.” - Louis C.K. Everybody knows there are a few fundamental differences between boys and girls. But what might seem like minor anatomical dissimilarities can become a monumental chasm in the bedroom. Read more...

Make Me Mansome

Posted 4:25pm Sunday 23rd September 2012 by Sam Valentine

In today’s society, there’s an entire micro-economy dedicated to self-improvement. Whether it’s weight loss, hair removal, or beautification, an array of uplifting rhetoric and often excruciating services exist to further humanity’s quest for actualization, improvement, and ultimately happiness. Read more...

I’ll think of a title tomorrow

Posted 4:25pm Sunday 23rd September 2012 by Michael Neilson

“I never put off till tomorrow what I can possibly do – the day after tomorrow.” - Oscar Wilde For some, writing a feature article in one day might be daunting. But I would rather it were always this way. As a fourth-year with admittedly unhealthy study habits, my brain has become so Read more...

Who wants to be an OUSA PRESIDENT?

Posted 8:49pm Thursday 20th September 2012 by Staff Reporter

Thank god for term limits ay. Logan Edgar can’t run again, leaving the position of OUSA President wide open. And the scarfies are lining up to replace him. Unfortunately they’re all ugly as sin, and to make it worse, all dudes. Seriously where the ladies at? But you can’t win them all right? So it’s Read more...

Here Are Your Candidates

Posted 8:49pm Thursday 20th September 2012 by Staff Reporter

It is OUSA election time. This is your chance to decide who’s going to run your students’ assocation throughout 2013. These guys are going to be controlling how over $3million dollars of your levies are spent, as well as setting the long term direction for the assocation. So get out and learn about Read more...

U-Create

Posted 4:57pm Sunday 16th September 2012 by Katie Kenny

In Kazuo Ishiguro’s acclaimed dystopian thriller, Never Let Me Go, art is literally a lifeline for the novel’s doomed characters, Tommy and Kathy. “That’s the whole thing about art,” explains Tommy. “It says what’s inside of you; it reveals your soul.” Cuts to CreativitySome would say, Read more...

Apollo’s Arrow

Posted 4:57pm Sunday 16th September 2012 by Josef Alton

Stage 10 of the 2001 Tour de France was a climb in the French Alps involving three above category hill climbs, summiting at the legendary ski resort l’Alpe d’Huez. It is the first mountain stage of the world-renowned bicycle race. Early in the day, Jan Ullrich had eased into the lead of the peloton Read more...

What The Art

Posted 4:57pm Sunday 16th September 2012 by Zane Pocock

As a form of expression and communication, art has been around for almost as long as humanity. The brain is hard-wired to appreciate the aesthetic, and the deeper readings of conceptual art can prove incredibly rewarding for those that way inclined. But interesting though it is, the complexity of Read more...

The Great Critic Politics Quiz

Posted 4:03pm Sunday 9th September 2012 by Callum Fredric

Are you jealous of friends who describe themselves as “progressive,” “right-wing,” or “conservative”? Do you desperately yearn to categorise your political views into a neat little box? If so, good news! Critic’s resident political scientists, Callum Fredric and Sam McChesney, have studied Read more...

Is The Treaty Dead?

Posted 4:03pm Sunday 9th September 2012 by Lauren Wootton

I know what you’re thinking – not another article about the Treaty of Waitangi and race relations in New Zealand. Bring back the blind date lesbian sex! The only people who even have to deal with Treaty stuff are law students and people who study it, right? Wrong. As New Zealanders, we enjoy the Read more...

21st Century Scarfies: Too Cool to Care?

Posted 4:03pm Sunday 9th September 2012 by Michael Neilson

“If our colleges and universities do not breed men who riot, who rebel, who attack life with all their youthful vim and vigour, then there is something wrong with our colleges. The more riots that come on college campuses, the better the world for tomorrow.” - William Allen White, influential Read more...

Two Little Boys

Posted 4:03pm Sunday 9th September 2012 by Joe Stockman

New Zealand’s best known film-making duo Robert and Duncan Sarkies have teamed up with Oscar winner Bret McKenzie and Aussie comedian Hamish Blake, of Hamish and Andy fame, for their latest Kiwi movie, Two Little Boys. Joe Stockman indulged in an early screening of the film and caught up with Bret Read more...

The Four Most Intolerable Travel Companions

Posted 5:17pm Sunday 2nd September 2012 by Anonymous

Third world travel is tough. Those pesky crippled and starving locals are constantly hanging around making you feel bad about spending what they’d make in a month on a totally necessary supply of hash and a bottle of “Real’s” whiskey. Not to mention the nerve of their assumption that Western women Read more...

Chasing the Blue Dragon

Posted 5:17pm Sunday 2nd September 2012 by Michael Neilson

A glimpse into the unique life of the travelling surfer, who scours the globe in pursuit of the ultimate fix. I’m guessing that most of you have either already travelled or can’t wait to kiss your degree goodbye and boost off to some faraway corner of the globe. For surfers, the same Read more...

Itchy Feet

Posted 5:17pm Sunday 2nd September 2012 by Joe Stockman

After three, four, or more years at university, most students are pretty keen to get overseas as soon as possible. Whether it’s going on exchange, heading to London for the big OE, or backpacking in Southeast Asia, the drive to travel is an innate part of the Kiwi psyche. Well-travelled ol’ man Joe Read more...

The War at Home

Posted 5:17pm Sunday 2nd September 2012 by Zane Pocock

When Goff goofed up the 2011 election, he valiantly handed the reins to one of Labour’s many Davids, namely David Shearer, who is thought to be Labour’s answer to John Key in sheer blokiness. Yet many New Zealanders continue to ask, “David who?” Critic editor Joe Stockman caught up with Shearer for Read more...

Two Hours with Louis Crimp

Posted 4:26pm Sunday 19th August 2012 by Callum Fredric

An interview with the outspoken and often offensive multi-millionaire about life, cats, Maori culture, and sex against trees. When I first came up with the idea of interviewing Louis Crimp, I had a very simple agenda – to get as many outrageous quotes as possible. The Invercargill Read more...

Bursting The Bubble of The Clean Green Myth

Posted 4:26pm Sunday 19th August 2012 by Jordan Maynard

As a Canadian exchange student, I have the impression that pride in New Zealand’s farming history is ingrained in every Kiwi outside of Auckland. But what exactly do you Southerners have to be proud of? Is New Zealand’s clean green agricultural image real, or just a marketing façade to separate you Read more...

The Children of Parihaka

Posted 4:26pm Sunday 19th August 2012 by Katie Kenny

The New Zealand Film Festival screening of Tatarakihi: The Children of Parihaka, directed by Paora Te Oti Takarangi Joseph, left me feeling seriously ignorant of Dunedin’s local history. You see, I had no idea that the streets upon which we walk daily – High Street, Stuart Street, the Read more...

Jimmy Boy

Posted 4:26pm Sunday 19th August 2012 by Claudia Herron

Esteemed moral philosopher and historian Emeritus Professor James R Flynn has a staggering breadth of knowledge in fields of philosophy, psychology, and politics, on topics ranging from human ideals to race, class, and IQ. After a near 30-year reign as Head of the Politics Department at the Read more...

New Zealand's Most Inspirational Celebrities

Posted 5:14pm Sunday 12th August 2012 by Anonymous

The front page of this week’s Sunday Star Times offered a fetching full-page graphic of our victorious Olympic gold medallists, punctuated by the witty headline “IT’S RAINING MEDALS!” Our Olympic success naturally deserves recognition, but I can’t help but worry that this wanton, vulgar celebration Read more...

Get Your Faith On

Posted 5:14pm Sunday 12th August 2012 by Joe Stockman

“Thank God I’m an Atheist” - Luis Bunuel It would be pretty easy, too easy, for a student magazine to write an article about religion and simply tear it down. Religion is stupid in the face of any form of rationality. Pretty much every faith asks you to believe in something unseen – a Read more...

Dunedin's Sons of Abraham

Posted 5:14pm Sunday 12th August 2012 by Michael Neilson

Before getting started, I should clarify that the title of this article does not refer to a couple of blokes you might catch down at the Cook on a Thursday night. Abraham and his sons Isaac and Ishmael provide the historical and spiritual roots of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. University Read more...

Fag?

Posted 5:14pm Sunday 12th August 2012 by Zane Pocock

Members of OUSA-affiliated society UniQ have been revolting against Critic’s Straight Up column due to columnist Dame La Dida’s usage of the words “fag” and “faggot”. Things reached fever pitch on Facebook last week after Critic printed a letter to, and a response from, Dame La Dida in last week's Read more...

The Three WORST Flatmates

Posted 4:49pm Sunday 5th August 2012 by Anonymous

Existentalist philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre famously concluded that hell is other people. As my degree stretches into its fifth year, I am convinced that Sartre’s relentlessly bleak view of humanity was developed after an episode of time travel in which he spent half a decade flatting in Dunedin. The Read more...

Need a Dollar

Posted 4:49pm Sunday 5th August 2012 by Katie Kenny

Tacked to the wall above my deskis a note from my sister Charlotte: “Don’t spend all your $$$! xox”. Her warning is not a joke, or even an exaggeration. My ever-sensible sister has been my ready-cash rescuer and my financial conscience all too often. We all have our Read more...

Flatting 101

Posted 4:49pm Sunday 5th August 2012 by Lauren Wootton

It’s that time of year again – every knock at the door is another group of students hoping to look around “really quick” to see what is up for grabs. Going flatting is a rite of passage for students, signifying a new independence away from parents or the swipe card-dominated 10pm Quiet Time of hall Read more...

Dolphin Wars

Posted 2:15pm Sunday 29th July 2012 by Margot Taylor

They are one of those quintessential creatures that people just love, aren’t they. Dolphins fill crappy children’s movies, decorate our toilet paper, and are used by the New Zealand tourism industry to attract tourists who pay up to $200 for a chance to dive into our icy waters and hopefully swim Read more...

A Long Journey Home

Posted 2:15pm Sunday 29th July 2012 by Michael Neilson

We’ve all been in situations where we don’t feel safe and need to escape. Maybe it was a sober night at Monkey Bar, a slightly-too-ruckus Castle St party, or being confronted by a stranger in a dark alley. I was chased down Arthur Street by a drugged-out lunatic at 2am just last week. But luckily Read more...

An Unnecessarily Clinical and Probably Inaccurate Analysis of New Zealand's Olympic Team

Posted 2:15pm Sunday 29th July 2012 by Gus Gawn

185 New Zealand athletes will compete across 21 sports at the London 2012 Olympics. That's a lot. It puts us in the top 20 nations in the world in terms of numbers competing. Britain will have the most, with 542 athletes competing across all 26 sports. 21 sports is a lot of sports to know Read more...

Prof. Alan Musgrave

Posted 2:15pm Sunday 29th July 2012 by Bella Macdonald

Over 40 years of research and dedication to the University of Otago Philosophy department has paid off for Professor Alan Musgrave after being awarded an Otago University Distinguished Research Medal. The medal is Otago University’s highest research honour. It rewards and recognises outstanding Read more...

The Annual Critic Sex Toy Review

Posted 10:46am Sunday 22nd July 2012 by Anonymous

Personal development guru Tony Robbins is famous for breathlessly rhapsodising to lumpen Wal-Mart shelf-stackers that the fastest route to career success and satisfaction is to find something you love doing, and make it your job. I spend most of my time lying in bed with the curtains drawn jerking Read more...

What is Beauty?

Posted 10:46am Sunday 22nd July 2012 by Katie Kenny

"Beauty is truth, truth beauty, – that is all Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know." - — John Keats, “Ode on a Grecian Urn” You’re likely thinking, quite rightly, “Oh, how typical for Katie to be given a brief on beauty and to employ poetry...” However, before you condemn my Read more...

Te Wiki o Te Reo

Posted 10:46am Sunday 22nd July 2012 by Gianna Leoni

Hei aha te nui, te iti rānei (No matter how big or how small)Indigenous languages are becoming extinct at an alarming rate. In recent months I have been fortunate enough to meet and listen to different indigenous peoples from around the world, which has made me aware of how lucky we are here in Read more...

It is How We're Drinking

Posted 5:14pm Sunday 15th July 2012 by Katie Kenny

Is student drinking really a problem? Aren’t we just young people having a good time, getting a bit loose with our mates, and enjoying ourselves while we still can? Katie Kenny takes a look at the damage that can be caused when we go a bit too far with the booze. According to the Ministry of Read more...

What The Drunk?

Posted 5:14pm Sunday 15th July 2012 by Lauren Wootton

On any given night of the week scarfies and their friends go out to play, and nine times out of ten their sport of choice is drinking. Getting booze is easy, and getting drunk is even easier. But why does alcohol make us feel so good (and then oh-so-bad)? And what is it actually doing to us? Read more...

Beer, Glorious Beer

Posted 5:14pm Sunday 15th July 2012 by Zane Pocock

As someone who’s all too familiar with the epic nights of a student and spent the prior night sinking piss at a work function, going Gonzo for a feature on beer didn’t seem like a great concept, but my trepidation was brief. I had forgotten that real beer need not be associated with slabs of SoGos Read more...

State of The Nation

Posted 5:13pm Sunday 8th July 2012 by Michael Neilson

Before getting started, I must admit that, as a fourth-year Politics student, assessing the National Party’s second term in government for my first feature is like a dream come true. A sad dream (and a confession likely to diminish my chances of getting laid for a while), but a dream Read more...

The Dunedin Dictionary

Posted 5:13pm Sunday 8th July 2012 by Anonymous

The only thing worse than hearing people casually fling around trendy words and phrases you’ve never heard of is realising you’re so out of touch you still use the word “trendy”. Luckily, help is at hand in this blatant Urban Dictionary ripoff, which handily explains a few of the terms you might Read more...

Get (Re)Oriented

Posted 5:13pm Sunday 8th July 2012 by Staff Reporter

OUSA and Radio One have teamed up again to bring you a huge line-up for this year’s Re-Orientation. Here’s what you can hit up over the next week: WednesdayClubs DayClubs and Socs Centre, 10am – 3pm (and it’s FREE!) Clubs Day is back! Head on down to the Clubs and Societies Centre Read more...

Dunedin Through International Eyes

Posted 8:39pm Sunday 3rd June 2012 by Anonymous

I estimate that as I endure my stressful daily routine - sleeping, eating, considering going to lectures, deciding in the negative, sleeping, Facebooking, quick trip to Sav Jap, illegal downloading, sleeping again - I spend about 94.6% of that time thinking about how much I hate Dunedin (the other Read more...

Last Breath Left

Posted 8:39pm Sunday 3rd June 2012 by Zane Pocock

Suicide is an issue that hits close to home for too many New Zealanders. We have the highest suicide rate in the OECD, and an estimated 3% of our population considers suicide every year. Debate rages in the media about how we should approach and treat this problem. Critic's Zane Pocock delves into Read more...

Depression: The Hidden Illness

Posted 8:39pm Sunday 3rd June 2012 by Katie Kenny

Sufferer’s descriptions of the experience of mental illness can be as varied as the individuals themselves. “[I feel] as though I don’t have the right to be depressed”; “like being on the opposite side of a glass wall”; “out of control”; anxious”; “sleepy”; “cold and numb”; “like I’m going Read more...

Wasted Time

Posted 7:40pm Sunday 27th May 2012 by Anonymous

A couple of years ago, Tommy was at a birthday party in an Auckland hotel room. It was someone’s 18th, and by all accounts it was rowdier than an average Saturday night in the Botans. Lots of people texted their friends, who texted their dodgy friends, who texted their even dodgier friends. The Read more...

Dare to be Wise?

Posted 7:40pm Sunday 27th May 2012 by Katie Kenny

CONTROVERSY AT CANTERBURYIn 1993 Canterbury Master of Arts student Joel Hayward completed his thesis, entitled The Fate of Jews in German Hands: An Historical Enquiry into the Development and Significance of Holocaust Revisionism. Although the content is as controversial as its title suggests, his Read more...

Altered States

Posted 7:58pm Sunday 20th May 2012 by Zane Pocock

Lets face it, listening to mainstream radio feels more and more like getting Rick-Rolled. An alternative is vital, both for your sanity, and to maintain any sense of culture in society. Threatened with sale last year, Otago Uni's other student voice - Radio One - has come under a lot of fire. Read more...

Breaking and Entering

Posted 7:58pm Sunday 20th May 2012 by Lauren Wootton

It’s not easy being a musician. An artist. There’s constant pressure – to write new songs, record, release an album, tour (and tour well) and just be an all-round GC. And there’s even more pressure if you’re a musician in New Zealand; the music industry just isn’t that big. New Zealand Music Read more...

Justice Kate O'Regan

Posted 7:58pm Sunday 20th May 2012 by Bella Macdonald

Justice Kate O’Regan was invited to speak at the annual New Zealand Law Foundation Ethel Benjamin Address on April 23. The address is held in memory of Ethel Benjamin, who in 1987, was the first female Otago University graduate admitted to the bar. Justice O’Regan’s experiences as a woman working in Read more...